Book support



y 1963 s. D. DEGORSK] ETAL 3,098,314

BOOK SUPPORT Filed Feb. 6, 1962 INVENTORS United States Patent 3,098,314 1300K SUPPURT Stanislaw D. Degorski, 2910 Oliver Road, and Vincent T. Borka, 332 E. Parent, both of Royal Oak, Mich. Filed Feb. 6, 1962, Ser. No. 171,466 2 Claims. (Cl. 45-57) This invention relates to a book support, and more particularly to a book support having means thereon to retain a book in the desired open position While still permitting a portion of the pages to be turned.

Numerous book supports have been proposed in the past for the purpose of supporting a book or magazine in a substantially upright position to permit the book to be read without the necessity for manually holding it.

This is a convenience to musicians or others who must employ their hands at some other task while still being :able to read the book, for example, housewives frequently desire to maintain a cookbook in open position while preparing a particular recipe. One of the problems associated with such prior art book supports has been that if means are provided on the support to hold the pages open, then the book must be removed from the support in order to turn to a new page. This is, of course, inconvenient particularly in the case of a musician who must continue to play his instrument with a minimum of interruption to turn pages. The present invention solves this problem by providing a book support which will maintain :the book in open position and still permit the pages to be turned with relative ease.

It is an object of the invention to provide a book support for supporting a book in a substantially upright, open position.

Another object of the invention is to provide a first spring clamp structure on the book support for securely clamping the pages of a book against inadvertent turning.

A further object of the invention is to provide a second spring mechanism which is weaker than the above-mentioned first spring mechanism for temporarily holding only those pages of a book which are to be turned during use of the book.

A still further object of the invention is to provide such a relatively weak spring having a cylindrical porrtion in engagement with the pages thus permitting the pages to be pressed against the spring mechanism without danger of ripping or tearing the paper.

Another object of the invention is to provide a spring mechanism on the side of the book to which pages are turned for engagement with pages which have been turned.

Other objects of this invention will appear in the following description and appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views.

In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view in perspective of one embodiment of the book support of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a rear eleuational view in perspective of the book support of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a bottom plan view of the book support;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged view in perspective of the relatively weak spring for retaining pages of a book which are to be turned during use of a book; and

FIGURE 5 is a view in perspective of the book support with a book mounted thereon.

Before explaining the present invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and arrangeice ment of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawing, since the invent-ion is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.

Referring to the drawing, it will be seen that the book support it) comprises a rectangular wire frame 12 which is supported in an upright position by a triangular support member 14. The member 14 is secured to the frame 12 by means of a bracket 16 and nut and bolt structure 18.

A vertically adjustable support structure 20* is secured to the center wires 22, 24 of the frame 12. The support 2i? includes a back plate 26 and a bottom plate 28 extending therefrom at substantially right angles. Nut and bolt structures 30, 32 extend through openings. in the back plate 26 and through openings in bracket members 34, 35 which 'frict-ionally engages the wires 22, 24. The structure 26! may be moved up or down on the wires 22, 24 by loosening the nut and bolt structures 30, 3-2. The structure 20 may thus be positioned at any desired level to accommodate a particular book being supported.

A relatively strong spring structure 36 is provided on the structure 20 to permit clamping of the pages of abook against the back plate 26. The pages which are clamped by the spring 36 are those which are not to be turned during operation or use of the device. The spring structure comprises a pair of spring arms 38=, 40 which are connected together by portion 42. The portion 42 is secured between the bracket parts 34, 35- thus holding the spring structure 36 in the desired position. The arms 38, 4t extend laterally and are formed with an angle so that they will tend to spring towards the back plate 26. The ends of the arms 33, 4d are bent to form generally rectangular clamping feet 44, 46 which extend through openings 48, 55) formed in the bottom plate 28. Upwardly extending portions 52, 54, terminating in finger engageable elements 56, 58 are provided to permit manual raising of the feet 44, '46 for the insertion of a portion of a book there-under as best illustrated in FIGURE 5.

A relatively weak flat spring element 60 is provided on the spring arm 40 to bear against pages of a book which are to be turned. The spring 60 is provided with a relatively straight portion 62 having an opening 64 through which the spring portion 54 extends. The spring 60 may be soldered to the portion 54, the solder being applied around the opening 64. The end 66 of portion 62 is hooked to engage the arm 40. Extending from the portion 62 is helically coiled portion 68. The helical coils are configured to urge the outer end 70 of the spring towards the foot 46. The coils are spaced apart far enough so that the end 60 may be moved sideways or circularly to permit disengagement of the spring from a page when the page is turned thereagainst. The end 70 is provided with a cylindrically shaped finger 72. The finger 72 is preferably fabricated from a relatively soft plastic material.

A second clamping spring 74 is provided adjacent the spring arm 38. The spring 74 is formed with a general U-shape having a curved end '76 which is disposed adjacent the plate 26. The opposite end 7s of the spring 74 is formed in a U-shape and is inserted into the recess formed by the plate 26 and structural support bracket 82-. The spring 74 is thus frictionally engaged in the recess 8i In operation of the device 10, a book 84 is set in open position on the plate 23 with the back of the book resting against the frame 12. The pages of the book 84 which are not to be turned are clamped beneath the feet 44, 46 of the relatively strong spring 36. The pages which are to be turned are positioned beneath the finger 72 of the spring 60. The spring 60, being relatively weak, is easily forced out of the way as a result of a relatively small force exerted during turning of a page. The turned page is then easily inserted beneath the end 76 of the spring 74 to be retained in place on the opposite side of the book. The cylindrical configuration of the finger 72 always presents a curved surface to the page being turned, thus preventing ripping or tearing of the page. While the force of the spring 60 is slight enough to permit turning of the book pages, it is strong enough to hold the pages in place against the camber of the page or a sudden draft of air.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1. A support for a book in which portions of the book pages may be turned while other portions of the pages are securely clamped comprising a support structure for receiving a book in open position; a first rela tively strong spring mechanism to securely clamp first portions of the book pages of each side of the book to the support structure; and a second relatively weak spring mechanism to releasably clamp a second portion of the book pages to one side of a book for subsequent turning; said second spring mechanism being secured to said first spring mechanism and comprising a flat spring element havin g a spirally coiled portion with a free end bearing towards the book support structure.

2. A book support comprising a support structure for a book; a first relatively strong spring to clamp a first portion of the book pages to the support structure; said first spring comprising a pair of spring arms attached to the hook structure and having free ends normally bearing towards the support structure; each of said free ends adapted to clamp the pages on one side of a book; a second relatively weak mechanism to releasably clamp a second portion of the book pages to one side of a book for subsequent turning; said second portion of the book pages being turnable without tearing to disengage said second spring mechanism; and a third spring mechanism on the side of the book opposite from said second spring mechanism; said third spring mechanism bearing against the book and adapted to clampingly receive pages which have been turned.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,285,932 Calder Nov. 26, 1916 2,136,701 Manierre Nov. 15, 1938 2,480,233 Fuller Aug. 30, 1949 2,610,434 Ramaniuk Sept. 16, 1952 

1. A SUPPORT FOR A BOOK IN WHICH PORTIONS OF THE BOOK PAGES MAY BE TURNED WHILE OTHER PORTIONS OF THE PAGES ARE SECURELY CLAMPED COMPRISING A SUPPORT STRUCTURE FOR RECEIVING A BOOK IN OPEN POSITION; A FIRST RELATIVELY STRONG SPRING MECHANISM TO SECURELY CLAMP FIRST PORTIONS OF THE BOOK PAGES OF EACH SIDE OF THE BOOK TO THE SUPPORT STRUCTURE; AND A SECOND RELATIVELY WEAK SPRING MECHANISM TO RELEASABLY CLAMP A SECOND PORTION OF THE BOOK PAGES TO ONE SIDE OF A BOOK FOR SUBSEQUENT TURNING; SAID SECOND SPRING MECHANSIM BEING SECURED TO SAID FIRST SPRING MECHANISM AND COMPRISING A FLAT SPRING ELEMENT HAVING A SPIRALLY COILED PORTION WITH A FREE END BEARING TOWARDS THE BOOK SUPPORT STRUCTURE. 